Scientists say they are one step closer to finding a cure for the deadliest form of brain tumour after solving a gene mystery.

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive type of adult brain tumour, with patients surviving an average of just 16 months after diagnosis.

However, there are no effective treatments for the disease.

But now, researchers in Canada have found that a gene called 'OSMR' plays a key role in driving the growth of glioblastoma tumours.

The more active the gene is, the shorter the patient's life span, the study suggests.

Doctor Arezu Jahani-Asl, assistant professor of medicine at McGill University and a neuroscientist at the Jewish General Hospital's Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research in Canada, led the research.

A neuroscientist at the Jewish General Hospital's Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (above) led the study (Image: colros/Flickr)

She said: "To develop better treatments, we need to gain a better understanding of what is really going on inside these tumours."

Scientists have known that a mutant variation of another gene, known as EGFRvIII, produces a major tumour-forming protein in glioblastoma.

But treatments aimed at disabling EGFRvIII in these patients have been disappointingly unsuccessful.

Some piece of the molecular puzzle must have been missing, the study suggests.

This led Prof Jahani-Asl to hunt for it in tissue samples from glioblastoma.

The researchers discovered that the OSMR gene was very active in glioblastoma cells.

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Dr Azad Bonni, a senior author of the study, said: "The discovery has important clinical implications.

"It provides a new therapeutic avenue for treating this devastating disease, though developing any effective therapy targeting human patients could be years of work."

Prof Jahani-Asl is now developing antibodies and small molecules designed to inhibit the OSMR protein or its interaction with EGFRvIII - a step toward the ultimate goal of finding ways to treat these tumours.

She added: "If we find that they can reverse tumour formation in rodent models, "we will be equipped to adapt those techniques for testing in patients."